ΣΩΤΗΡΗΣ ΠΑΠΑΖΗΣΗΣ

Η Ηπειρωτική πατριά καθώς και η ευρύτερη ελληνική παροικία είναι σαφώς φτωχότερη αυτές τις ημέρες με το πέρασμα από την ζωή στην ιστορία του αειμνήστου φιλάνθρωπου και παροικιακού παράγοντος Σωτήρη Παπαζήση, ο οποίος απεδήμησε από την επάρατο νόσο όλως αιφνιδιαστικά την προηγούμενη εβδομάδα σε ηλικία εβδομήντα ετών.
Αναμφισβήτητα ο Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης αποτελεί χαρακτηριστικός εκπρόσωπος όλων αυτών των νέων της γενιάς εκείνης η οποία αναγκάστηκε υπό δύσκολες συνθήκες να εκπατριστεί, αναζητώντας όχι μόνον την υλοποίηση και κατάκτηση των ονείρων και οραμάτων της αλλά το πιο βασικό, το δικαίωμα αποκτήσεως τέτοιων οραμάτων.
Ο Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης, δυναμικός, καλοσυνάτος και ενεργητικός, σίγουρα οραματίστηκε πολλά για την ζωή του. Κατά την διάρκεια της επίγειας δράσης του, κατάφερε το αξιοζήλευτο: να συνταυτίσει τα όνειρα του με τα ιδανικά του και τα εφαρμόσει στην καθημερινή του ζωή. Δεν θα ήταν καθόλου υπερβολικό να πούμε λοιπόν ότι με την προσήλωση του στα χρηστά ήθη και τα ιδανικά της Πατρίδος, Πίστεως και Οικογένειας, ότι ο Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης έζησε μία ζωή όνειρο, επειδή ο ίδιος την όρισε έτσι.
Ο νέος οραματιστής του Αγίου Νικανόρος, Κονίτσης φτάνει στην Αυστραλία το 1956 με τίποτε άλλο από μία απέραντη αισιοδοξία για το μέλλον και την άσβηστη φλόγα αγάπης για την πατρίδα να σιγοκαίει στην καρδιά του. Ρίχνεται «με τα μούτρα» στην δουλειά όπως χιλιάδες άλλοι, γεύεται τις πίκρες καθώς και τις απολαύσεις τις ξενιτιάς και αρχίζει να μεγαλουργεί. Πάνω από όλα η οικογένεια. Στις επόμενες δεκαετίες, θα φέρει με δικά του έξοδα στην Αυστραλία όχι μόνο τους γονείς και τα αδέλφια του αλλά πληθώρα ξάδελφων και άλλων συγγενών. Ο φιλάνθρωπος Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης θα τρέξει να τους συνδράμει, να τους τακτοποιήσει και να τους βρει δουλειά. «Ζώη χωρίς οικογένεια είναι αδύνατη,» συνήθιζε να λέει και αισθάνονταν την απόλυτη ανάγκη να περιστοιχίζει την καρδιά του καθώς και την ζωή του με την συνεχόμενη παρουσία «δικών» του ανθρώπων. Φως φανερό αυτής της αντίληψης ήταν η αγάπη και ιδιαίτερη φροντίδα του για την γυναίκα του και τα τρία παιδία του.
Η απέραντη καρδιά του Σωτήρη Παπαζήση τον επέτρεψε να υπερβεί την στενή ερμηνεία της λέξεως «οικογένεια» και να την επεκτείνει ώστε να αγκαλιάσει όλους τους συμπατριώτες του. Οι Ηπειρώτες που έφταναν φοβισμένοι και διστακτικοί στις ακτές της Μελβούρνης και αποκτούσαν θάρρος και καταφύγιο στο πλατύ, καλοσυνάτο χαμόγελο του Σωτήρη και στα λαμπερά, γεμάτα από ζήλο για την ζωή και αγάπη μάτια του, δεν μπορούσαν παρά να συλλάβουν ότι εις το εξής αυτός ο άνθρωπος θα τους σταθεί στήριγμα για την υπόλοιπη ζωή τους. «Ο Σωτήρης ήταν αυτός που έτρεξε να μας βρει δουλειά, να μας τακτοποιήσει, να μας κάνει παρέα να μην στενοχωριόμαστε εκείνα τα πρώτα χρόνια,» θυμάται ο επιστήθιος φίλος και συμπατριώτης του, Γρηγόρης Νίτσος. «Για εμάς και αμέτρητους άλλους.» Πάντοτε πρόθυμος για γλέντια, αστεία και χαμόγελα, ο Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης απελευθερώνει τον όρο της φιλανθρωπίας από τον στενό ερμηνευτικό όριο της οικονομικής βοήθειας, αν και βοήθησε οικονομικά πάμπολλους νεοφερμένους μετανάστες και με την τρυφερότητα, ευαισθησία και μεγαλοψυχία του, την επαναφέρει στην πρωταρχική της σημασία, αυτή της υπέρτατης αγάπης για τον άνθρωπο.
Από αυτήν την φιλανθρωπία πηγάζει και στιγματίζεται η ανάμειξη του Σωτήρη Παπαζήση στα παροικιακά κοινά. Αποτέλεσε ιδρυτικό στέλεχος του Φιλανθρωπικού Συλλόγου Κονίτσης όπου αποτέλεσε συνδετικός, επικοινωνιακός αλλά και ενωτικός κρίκος για τους συμπατριώτες του Κονιτσιώτες. Μην ξεχνώντας λεπτό την καταγωγή και πατρίδα του, διοργανώνει μαζί με άλλα στελέχη του Συλλόγου, εράνους για διάφορους φιλανθρωπικούς σκοπούς για την Κόνιτσα, αξιοσημείωτη δε ο έρανος προς ανακούφιση των σεισμοπαθούντων της Κονίτσης, στον οποίο η οικογένεια Παπαζήση δωρίζει με βαριά καρδιά και τα πάθη των συμπατριωτών της, ένα σεβαστό χρηματικό ποσόν.
Ο οραματιστής Παπαζήσης δεν αρκείται στην διοργάνωση ενός μικρού τοπικιστικού φορέα. Οραματίζεται μία Ηπειρωτική πατριά ενωμένη, η οποία θα έχει την δυνατότητα να ακολουθήσει τα χνάρια των προγόνων της ώστε να αποτελέσει και αυτή, ευεργέτρια του Έθνους. Γίνεται ενεργό στέλεχος της Ηπειρωτικής Αγαθοεργούς Αδελφότητος, στην οποία εργάζεται σκληρά, αφιερώνοντας όλο τον ελεύθερο χρόνο του προς την αγορά και ανακαίνιση μιας Ηπειρωτικής εστίας. Σκοπός του τριπλός – η σύσφιξη σχέσεων όλων των συμπατριωτών του, η μεταλαμπάδευση της ιδιαίτερης Ηπειρωτικής παράδοσης στις επόμενες γενιές και απλώς να γλεντήσει την ένωση και ομόνοια της νέας του, διευρυμένης «οικογένειας.»
Δυστυχώς, αν και δεν κατάφερε ποτέ να καμαρώσει την Ηπειρωτική πατριά ενωμένη, αν και οι λίγοι κακόβουλοι και ασήμαντοι επιχείρησαν να αμφισβητήσουν και να εκμηδενίσουν το έργο του, δεν το βάζει κάτω. Εντείνει τις προσπάθειες του για μία ενωμένη και δυναμική Ηπειρωτική πατριά, ως ιδρυτικό στέλεχος της Πανηπειρωτικής Ομοσπονδίας Αυστραλίας και διατελεί πρόεδρος της για πολλά χρόνια. Από αυτήν την θέση τον χαιρετούμε και αυτές τις ημέρες. Η δράση του Σωτήρη Παπαζήση στην Ομοσπονδία υπήρξε πάντοτε ευεργετική και ενωτική. Έτοιμος πάντοτε να τρέξει, να βοηθήσει, να προσελκύσει κόσμο με τον ανοιχτόκαρδο και γενναιόδωρο χαρακτήρα του, αφήνει ένα ανεκπλήρωτο κενό στους κόλπους της Ομοσπονδίας, μία πληγή η οποία μόνον κάπως επουλώνεται από την μνήμη του.
Ως πρόεδρος της Ομοσπονδίας, ο Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης στρέφει την προσοχή του και την αγάπη για τον απανταχού Ελληνισμό προς όλες τις κατευθύνσεις. Διοργανώνει εράνους για την ιδιαίτερη του πατρίδα και τους άπορους συμπατριώτες του αλλά και στρέφει την προσοχή του στο δράμα του Βορειοηπειρωτικού Ελληνισμού. Τον καιρό που το τυραννικό Σταλινιστικό καθεστώς του Χότζα μαστίζει τις ζωές των άμοιρων Βορειοηπειρωτών, ο Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης, σε μία εποχή όπου στην πατρίδα αλλά και στους κόλπους τις παροικίας το θέμα θεωρείται ταμπού, υψώνει μαζί με τα λοιπά μέλη δυναμικά την φωνή του, απαιτώντας την πλήρη παραδοχή όλων των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων στους τυραννισμένους συμπατριώτες του. Ευτύχησε να δει την πτώση του παρανοϊκού καθεστώτος του Χότζα, να συνδράμει στην οικοδόμηση της τεχνικής σχολής στην Δερβιτσιάνη και πληθώρα άλλων φιλανθρωπικών έργων για την Βόρειο Ήπειρο, και αν και το όραμα του για την Βόρειο Ήπειρο παραμένει ανεκπλήρωτο δεν σταμάτησε μέχρι την τελευταία του στιγμή να μάχεται υπέρ των δικαιωμάτων των δύσμοιρων αδελφών του, ακόμη ένα κομμάτι της ευρύτερης του οικογένειας. Όπως λέει ο στενός του φίλος και συνεργάτης Πέτρος Πετράνης: «Ο Σωτήρης ήταν αυτός που κράτησε τόσα χρόνια την Ομοσπονδία και αυτό δεν είναι τυχαίο διότι τέτοιοι άνθρωποι είναι σπάνιοι στο είδος.»
Πάλι διευρύνοντας την έννοια της οικογένειας σε ένα ευρύ μέλισμα πατρίδος και θρησκείας, ο Σωτήρης Παπαζήσης δεν λείπει από καμία μαζική παροικιακή κινητοποίηση για τα εθνικά μας θέματα, την Μακεδονία και την Κύπρο ενώ παρελαύνει περήφανα κάθε χρόνο πρώτα μαζί με τα παιδιά του και μετέπειτα καμαρώνοντας τα εγγόνια του προς το Μνημείο του Αγνώστου Στρατιώτη, στην παράταξη της Πανηπειρωτικής Ομοσπονδίας Αυστραλίας.
Δεν εκπλήσσει καθόλου το γεγονός ότι η αγαθότητα και φιλανθρωπία του Σωτήρη Παπαζήση συνοδεύεται και κατευθύνεται από βαθιά χριστιανική πίστη. Προσηλωμένος στα δόγματα της Ορθοδόξου εκκλησίας και πεπεισμένος ότι η εκκλησία αποτελεί αναπόσπαστο κομμάτι της ελληνική ταυτότητος, υποστηρίζει το πνευματικό έργο της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής και γίνεται ιδιαίτερα αγαπητός στους φιλανθρωπικούς της κύκλους.
Δύο γεγονότα από το ηλιοβασίλεμα της ζωής του ίσως αποδεικνύουν την μεγαλοσύνη της ψυχής του όσο τίποτε άλλο. Χαροπαλεύοντας, παρακαλεί τους ιατρούς να του χαρίσουν άδεια από το νοσοκομείο. Είχε δώσει το λόγο του στην κόρη του και την εγγόνα του ότι θα τους πήγαινε να παρακολουθήσουν μαζί έναν αγώνα της άλλης μεγάλης λατρείας του – της Αυστραλιανής Ποδοσφαιρικής ομάδας Melbourne και δεν θα έπαιρνε ποτέ πίσω το λόγο του. Μάζεψε τους φίλους του και τα παιδία του και γεύθηκε για ύστατη φορά αυτή την απόλαυση μαζί με την οικογένεια του.
Δεν πρόλαβε όμως να εκπληρώσει την τελευταία του επιθυμία. Ίσως από προαίσθημα, λίγο καιρό πριν προσβληθεί από την θανατηφόρα πάθηση του, εξέφρασε την επιθυμία να επιστρέψει στην Ελλάδα και να προσκυνήσει τα πάτρια εδάφη, τα ήθη της οποίας υπηρέτησε με τόση πίστη και προσήλωση στην μακρινή ξενιτιά. Δεν τα κατάφερε. Τώρα ένα ακόμη αποδημητικό πουλί, παίρνει το δρόμο του γυρισμού, πετώντας πέρα από αυτόν το κόσμο της φθοράς και του μόχθου, στην αιώνια γαλήνη. Εμείς, τα πλέον ορφανεμένα μέλη της Πανηπειρωτικής Ομοσπονδίας Αυστραλίας, ενθυμούμενοι τον πρόεδρο Σωτήρη Παπαζήση πάντοτε με ένα χαμόγελα στα χείλη, τα γαλανά του μάτια να λαμπυρίζουν στο ροζιασμένο, νεανικό του πρόσωπο και να αναστενάζει από ικανοποίηση πίνοντας ένα ποτήρι μπύρα και λέγοντας καλαμπούρια, του ευχόμαστε καλή αντάμωση. Στην γυναίκα του, την Στέλλα και στα παιδιά του εκφράζουμε τα συλλυπητήρια μας αλλά και την ευχή μας για καλή συνέχεια στα χνάρια του αείμνηστου Σωτήρη Παπαζήση.

Εκ της Πανηπειρωτικής Ομοσπονδίας Αυστραλίας
Κώστας Καλυμνιός

First published in Neos Kosmos on 29 September 2005

SEPTEMVRIANA

The twentieth century was supposed to be a century of enlightenment and progress. Instead, it turned out to be one of increased environmental devastation, destructive warfare and most importantly one that signaled the violent, mass displacement of people. In the case of the Greek people, the 1922 catastrophe in the invasion of Cyprus caused the displacement of vast masses of population and here in our antipodean community print media, the September 1955 pogrom against the Greek community in Constantinople has lately achieved great prominence and indeed, this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of that tragic manifestation of human brutality and intolerance.
Several writers including myself in 2001 and most recently, SAE president Costas Vertzayias have been astounded not only in the absence of basic humanity that caused the demise of Constantinople's Greek community but also the relative lack of remorse and efforts to make amends exhibited by successive Turkish governments. A short walk through the Fanari quarter of Constantinople in indicative of the great demographic catastraophe that was the 1955 pogrom. The intricate wooden neoclassical facades of the suburb are crumbling to dust, either locked with rusty padlock or squattd by economic refugees from Anatolia, too poor to effect much needed renovations. Churches are locked though here and there one can discern faint Greek inscriptions on buildings. The edifices of Fanari are as crumbling and careworn as the faces of their owners and they seem to be slowly sinking into the ground.
As continuing Turkish prevarication over the fate of the theological school at Halki and other assets of the Oecumencial Patriarchate continues while courageous Patriarch Bartholomeos resolutely and fearlessly campaigns for his diminish flock's basic human rights, Greek portrayal of the pogrom has shifted from the nationalistic and sloganistic to a deep analysis and understand of human suffering, dislocation and characteristic to the Greek psyche, nostos. The acclaimed film 'Touch of Spice,' is a key representative of this new way of interpreting and dealing with trauma and one would venture to say that its focus on pain rather than on blame is a mature and passionate one.
It is encouraging to note that such feelings of nostalgia and sadness rather than hatred and recrimination are not only felt by the victims or their would-be defenders. Despite the traditional reluctance of the Turksih people to talk openly about inter-ethnic strife, must commonly with regard to the Armenian, Pontian and Assyrian genocide, this year hundreds of concerned Turkish citizens, professionals and academics among them flooded their newspapers with letters and articles condemning the 1955 pogrom and expressing a sympathy for the victims of the pogrom that is quite moving. Indeed, the yearning of some of those letter writers to make amends and the hole that the expulsion of the Constantinopolitan Greeks left in the hearts of many of their Turkish neighbours has done the unthinkable: It has usurped the traditional roles, with the aggressor becoming the victim of its own bestiality and realizing this, humbly seeking forgiveness.
Mehmet Ali Birand's letter to the Turkish Daily News of 7 September 2005 is a pertinent and profoundly humbling manifestation of this new willingness to admit mistakes and reach out to one another in a spirit of brotherhood. It also shows how the Turks of Constantinople also suffered psychologically as a result of the hysterical racism and ultranationalism of the age:

"I am one of the living witnesses of what happened in Istanbul 50 years ago. I was 14 years old. I did not know what it was all about. However, the passage of time made me understand the seriousness of the incidents, and I always carry the shame. Even though it was the only such incident in which the Turkish state officially admitted its culpability and tried to compensate its victims, it still continues to weigh on our conscience.
I can never forget.
I can still remember what I saw in Beyoğlu on the morning of Sept. 7, 1955. When I went to Tunel from Karaköy, I just was flabbergasted. The scene was shocking.
The huge street seemed like a war zone, with windows of the shops on both sides of the street shattered and all their goods strewn all over the street. Bunches of clothes, books, notebooks, chandeliers and much more. People were taking home whatever they could find. The scene was like judgment day. I was a child, and I had no idea what had happened.
What I noticed immediately was that while some shops were plundered, others were not even touched. I had a look and saw that there was a Turkish flag hanging on the windows of the shops that were not looted. Those that were had Greek names.
People with long beards and those who were dressed very shabbily were walking around. I saw that some people who were dressed normally were hiding in the shops, looking outside. The police and the soldiers seemed like they were saying: “Enough is enough. You did what you did, but now just leave.” They were both intervening and not intervening at the same time. That scene has always remained with me. Even though half a century has passed, I still shiver when I remember it. When I read the newspapers a day later, I realized the extent of the matter.
Similar incidents had occurred also in Taksim and Şişli, where most of the citizens of Greek origin lived. Not only the shops, but also churches, even cemeteries were damaged and plundered. Jewish citizens also got their share of trouble, but the main targets were Greeks. Newspapers were writing about people waving Turkish flags, pleading with the looters: “Please don't do it. I'm a Turk. I am a Turkish citizen.” It was a disgusting, belittling and tragic affair.
My mother and other adults were criticizing what had happened, while officials were talking about “the placing of a bomb at the house in Thessaloniki where Atatürk was born, which had been turned into a museum, and the anger felt against what was happening in Cyprus,” explaining that the people had become enraged.
We were living on Ethem Efendi Street at the time. Our neighbors were mostly Greek. They were my best friends. All of a sudden, they shut themselves in their homes. They talked to no one. I can never forget Madam Eleni when she asked, “Can we seek refuge in your home if they attack us?” The barbershop she managed with her husband was in ruins. They were in shock. My mother sent them food for a week. We let them live in one of our rooms.
I was too young to make sense of what had happened. Why should they attack Madam Eleni? What could they ask from them? Why were they different from me?
As I was seeking answers to these questions, the Greek families in our neighborhood started to move to other places or go to Greece. After 1963 none of them were left. They left Istanbul.
They took with them an important culture, a color and a different lifestyle. They left us alone in Istanbul to live our colorless lives. Later on we were full of regret, but by then it was too late. Turkey admitted all culpability, accepted responsibility:
Much later, we learned the Sept. 6-7 incidents were the doing of the infamous “deep state.” It was planned with government approval in order to let diplomats say “The people are reacting” during the U.N. discussions on Cyprus. However, it later got out of control and turned into a shameful plunder. It became a crime that the deep state could not handle, and it shamed the Turkish nation… Sept. 6-7 shamed us and hurt us and tainted us as a nation….
In the later years, whenever the incidents were mentioned, I felt an overwhelming shame and I always apologized to the victims I saw at international meetings. During the incidents our Turkishness was trampled underfoot. It was then I realized that if we don't criticize such incidents and apologize to the victims, we can never feel proud of ourselves.
Apologizing is enriching. It shows self-confidence. Discriminating due to religion, language or culture or using force on the weak is belittling one's self.
I don't know you, but I apologize to our neighbor Madam Eleni from Erenköy."
Well Mehmet, you and others like you can feel proud of yourselves because finally after fifty years a little balm has been applied to the festering wounds of those hundreds of thousands who have been unable to return to their homes. What is no incumbent upon you is to manifest that remorse practically by petitioning for the last remaining minorities within Turkey to be awarded their basic human rights and to be left free from persecution. They have suffered enough.

DEAN KALIMNIOU.
kalymnios@hotmail.com

First published in NKEE on 26 September 2005

THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL LEAGUE OF MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA

When the Greek Australian Cultural League of Melbourne was founded in 1974, many things were not foreseeable. In those days, the vast proportion of the Greek community had Greek as its first language and was comprised mainly of 'New Australians' who were struggling to put down roots in their adoptive homelands as well as to maintain their cultural heritage within it.
It was a time of unbounded optimism for the largely youthful Greek Community. Organisation upon organization was being formed, Greek was after a lengthy campaign instituted as a language at Melbourne University, politicians were sitting up and taking notice of our progress as well as courting our vote and the first batch of our community's professionals was emerging from the Universities. During this most vibrant period, the Greeks could not be blamed for gazing proudly at their accomplishments, believing that they had laid the foundations for a thriving Greek-speaking community for hundreds of years to come.
The passage of those thirty years has seen such confidence turn to dust as infighting, poor planning and the ravages of transplantation trauma have rendered most of our Community institutions irrelevant or maintaining a mere ghost like presence, for the sake of posterity. The teaching of Greek has receded from most Universities and from a largely Greek-speaking community, we are now a largely English speaking one with literacy levels in Greek at an unprecedented basic level.
One of the few organisations that has been able to weather the storm of redundancy is the Cultural League, simply by virtue of its democratic constitution. Whereas most Greek organisations had topography as their basis, something which becomes increasingly remote and less useful as a form of self-identification the longer the period spent away from one's place in origin, the League's sole purpose was to provide a supportive environment where aspects of Greek culture could be retained, explored and nurtured. That this task was taken so seriously as to keep it unsullied by the fractious politics that splintered and wounded so many of our community organizations is evidenced by the League’s continued success and relevance to the Greek community at large, something that has been recognized both by the Greek government and our own counterpart bodies.
Cultural activism is always difficult, for its parameters are undefineable and the temptation to create subjective boundaries omnipresent and the League has had to make difficult choices over the years though these have ensured its place as the cultural nucleus of our community. For example, the League was at the forefront of the campaign to reform the polytonic accentuation of Modern Greek to monotonic and also campaigned for the improved and more widespread teaching of Modern Greek in Victoria. Further through the institution of the «Πνευματικά Ανθεστήρια» and the publication of the literary journal "Antipodes" on an annual basis where all artists, authors and poets and indeed all interested parties are invited to compete against each other to produce quality works of Greek literature and art, the League established an early precedent and tilled an already fertile soil to produce remarkable works of an enduring nature. One of its founding members, the now departed poet N. Ninolakis has received critical acclaim both in Greece and Australia and there are scores of other authors and academics, who have laboured within the League throughout the years, to develop the cultural life of Melbourne to such an extent as to have our community accept the appellation of "the New Alexandria" by at least one noted poet and former Greek consul-general in Melbourne.
Those who would purport to purvey 'culture' are constantly faced with the danger of becoming elitist and exclusionary. After all, haute couture, hochkunst, call it what you will does not always appeal or is accessible to the majority. Whereas other organizations wielded their own particularity to devastatingly exclusionary effect, the League did something revolutionary. It opened its arms to the entire community, encouraging people of all walks of life to revel and soak themselves in the vast corpus of Greek cultural tradition, whether historical, literary, musical, visual or otherwise, informing them through lectures and other events as to the main benchmarks of our cultural identity but also providing moral support and encouragement to everyone to try their hands at interpreting and developing their own Greek cultural creations. Thus the League throughout its existence has presided over a period in our community's history where to quote the words of Mao, "a thousand flowers bloom and a thousands schools of thoughts contend," in a truly Democratic Cultural Revolution, without the prerequisite of killing sparrows.
The League is to some extent largely responsible for the creation of a literary genre particularly characteristic to Australia: the writing of memoirs about the first generation's sojourn and settlement in this country. In so promoting the development of this genre, the League served firstly as a salve to the wounds of the dispossessed as they nostalgically recalled their homeland and the trauma of their re-settlement and then as a friend and guide as these writers, through their pain and in many cases, limited education, found themselves suddenly emerging from their works as accomplished literary talents. It says much both about Australia and the League that within its embrace the 'common man' has found a literary haven. It is also quite interesting to trace the development of such works. While much of this work is introspective and deals only with the fringes of Australian society, it provides a valuable historical and psychological record of the effects of migration. Later works are more self-confident and broader in scope, displaying a community that has more or less come to terms with its transplantation and though the spectre of long lost Hellas still looms large, the community now has the luxury of self-assuredly plunging into the intellectual debates of the society of which it forms an intrinsic part.
Unlike other community organizations, the League has also spared a thought for the emerging generations who do not have Greek as a first language. All members of the community are invited to take part in the League's activities and special emphasis is given to permitting one to express their cultural affiliations in any language they feel comfortable with, without condemnation or interference. There is no linguistic elitism or snobbery here. Further, the youth that do concern themselves with the League and its activities, and there are not a few, are not simply ignored, undermined or excluded from its main activities. Rather they are encouraged to take an active part both in ensuring the smooth running of the organization and its functions but also to delve deep into the bottomless pool of Greek culture themselves. There are no end of well-wishers and well-intentioned artists of the first generation who selflessly and benignly assist younger members to find their own artistic voice and boldly exhibit it to the rest of the community. Indeed, there is no greater pleasure than seeing the anxious faces of youth encouraged or coerced into entering the League's annual literary competition break out in a smile of triumph and surprise as their work is rewarded and acclaimed, year after year.
In coming months, the League will launch volume 31 of its literary journal "Antipodes," a representative and thoroughly engrossing anthology of some of the best work in Greek and English garnered from community artists and writers. It is hoped that many more such volumes will follow, though the terminal decline in Greek linguistic competency that characterises the latter generations and their teachers seems to be frustrating the perpetuation of at least the Greek language component of our cultural heritage. If one considers though that cultural institutions function merely to reflect the culture of the community at a given time and to preserve a record of such cultural shifts over its passage, then the League has gone over and above the call of duty and we can safely expect that its determined members shall certainly rise to the challenges of the next age with the same devotion to Greek culture as has ensured its remarkable vitality to the present. Parties interested in the League can contact its president Ms Cathy Alexopoulos at greekculturalleague@yahoo.gr.

DEAN KALIMNIOU
kalymnios@hotmail.com

First published in NKEE on 19 September 2005

LES CITOYENS ÉTRANGÈRES

In his most excellent recent book, “From Foreigner to Citizen: Greek Migrants and Social Change in White Australia 1897-2000” which shall soon be the subject of a diatribe in its own right, LaTrobe University Philosophy Lecturer George Vassilacopoulos postulates that despite the veneer of formal equality characterizing race relations in this country, there lurks within the substratum, a fundamental concept of the ‘perpetual foreigner.’ Whereas Australian law is founded upon respect for proprietary rights and the individual, when it comes to foreigners’ these tend to be lumped together as a ‘group’ by those who obtain legitimisation of their rule and presence in this country by conferring upon such foreigners, citizenship and residency rights. Nonetheless, these foreigners are not automatically subsumed into the liberal democratic individualist paradigm. They remain a distinct ‘group,’ which is expected to provide appropriate declarations and exhibitions of loyalty to the ruling culture, or face the fear of being labelled suspect.
Vassilacopoulos points to various examples of such an attitude being applied to the early pre-Second World War Greek community. He points to Greek newspapers being closely monitored by ASIO, Greek-Australian citizens being compensated as foreign nationals in various race riots and Greeks being interned as politically suspect in camps prior to Greece’s entry into the First World War on the side of the Allies, regardless of their citizenship status. Vassilacopoulos especially points to the speech of the Lord Mayor of Melbourne at the opening of the first Greek Orthodox Church in Melbourne as exemplifying the official attitude towards ‘foreigners.’. The Lord Mayor in that instance praised the Greek community not for establishing itself under difficult circumstances or retaining their culture but for being among the most hard-working and law-abiding, proving that they are a trustworthy, loyal and obedient ‘group.’
Despite the advent of multiculturalism which attempted to alter the paradigm of Australian society as Anglo-Celtic ruled but tolerant of other foreign groups, to a mosaic or melting pot depending upon various interpretations, the archetypal model seems to have remained the same. Try as they might, ethnic communities and especially the left-leaning among them have not ever been able to be accepted either in the popular consciousness or the ruling classes as ‘Australians.’ Instead, they have been constantly called upon to prove their loyalist credentials at every turn. The rumoured purge of Greek members of the Labor Party, the insistence that the A-League, with all of its positive connotations be cleansed of ‘ethnic content’ and that ‘ethnic soccer’ be confined to the community ghetto are instances of this. Of all ‘foreign’ communities, our community has been relatively lucky in its acclimatization. We are white, European (though in pre-War literature we were classified as semi-white, pure whiteness being attributable only to the Nordic races), Christian and our culture forms to some extent, the basis of Anglo-Saxon ruling practices. As such, it has been easier for us to gain some type of acceptance than other communities. Nonetheless, after one hundred or so years of a sizeable presence in this country, we feel still feel compelled to carry the Australian flag to the Shrine of Remembrance every 25th March, to commemorate an event that has absolutely nothing to do with Australia but everything to do with our emergence as a people, in order to satisfy the Shrine Trustees and Australian society in general that despite our insistence on wearing funny clothes, speaking a funny lingo and carrying un-Australian flags, we still really are loyal Australians.
Nonetheless, while Commissioner Ferry of Queensland recommended that all Greeks be banned from migrating to Queensland in 1925, incidences of blatant disapprobation of Greek culture have been few, especially considering that Greeks have by and large assimilated to Anglo-Saxon culture and their threatening to Australian mores expressions of their own culture, are heavily regulated by the Corporations Law, the Incorporated Associations Act and various Local Council regulatons. The same cannot be said of the Asian community however. Recent comments by former NSW liberal leader John Brogden to the effect that former NSW Premier Bob Carr's wife, of Asian extraction is a ‘mail order bride’ indicate that certain perceptions remain unchanged from the fundament to the firmament. Older readers of course would remember that certain of John Howard’s arguments in the immigration debate of the eighties mirrored some of those made by Pauline Hanson decades later. While political expediency may serve to discourage attention from public perceptions, they remain to fester and at the correct moment, emerge triumphant.
Muslim Australians more than any other ‘group’ could be inserted into Vassilacopoulos’ equation to great effect. Despite the fact that the Muslim presence in Australia is also a century in duration, they too have remained, just like us, a group of foreigners.’ Proof of this is a recent visit by Prime Minister John Howard to the King Khalid Islamic school. Sitting down next to a hijab-clad teacher, he asked for her name and after attempting to roll his tongue around the strange-sounding Arabic syllables, followed this up by asking her: “How long have you been here?” The teacher, startled, responded: “I was born here.” The inferences to be drawn are simple. By her dress alone, this young woman is earmarked by the leader of Australia as a foreigner. Media footage then turned to young students dressed in various Middle Eastern costumes singing the Australian national anthem and then ridiculously enough, “We're happy little Vegemites.” Again the message is clear. These students are displayed as ‘good’ because despite their funny clothes and funny backgrounds, they have provided the public with the requisite affirmations of loyalty. Those who do not are automatically branded as suspect. As Federal Education Minister Dr Brendan Nelson recently put it, we need to teach our kids ‘Australian’ values and anyone who does not agree with these should clear out. And for those of you who may scoff and consider such words as mere bluster, you would do well to remember the internment camps in which our predecessors were compelled to sojourn owing to their ‘suspect’ status and that methods of internment for various other undesirable groups, whether these be in the form of refugee detention centres or legislation permitting the incarceration of those suspected of terrorist activities are in place, though this arguably may have justification.
In some ways, it is to be expected that a British-derived society based as it was on class and exclusion would retain some vestige of prejudice towards ‘outsiders,’ whatever their origin or gender. On the whole, despite these petty prejudices, Australian behaviour and policies towards migrants, especially after the advent of multiculturalism have been of the most benign and helpful to be found in the entire world. It is thus reprehensible that as a society we should find ourselves unable to mature to the pace of the policies our leaders set and that in moments of insecurity, retrogression follows.
It is also reprehensible that a member of Parliament of Greek background, Ms Sophie Panopoulos should publicly call for the banning of the wearing of the hijab in public schools by Muslim girls, deeming it an act of defiance. Sophie would do well to remember that she too is a member of a minority group and that her current position on the echelons of power does not wipe away her adherence to it. There were also Greek representatives in the Ottoman Parliament for instance and in those heinous days of racial and nationalistic upheaval, when push came to shove, they were dealt with not as Ottoman MPs but as Greeks. As Greek-Australians, Greeks or however else we see ourselves and are seen by others it is important for the future development of a cohesive Australia, untrammelled by fears and insecurities brought about by cultural differentiation and the survival of our own community, that we actively advocate freedom of cultural expression for all minorities. It is but a short step from banning the wearing of the hijab as an expression of rebellion to banning the 25th March parade or the wearing of the foustanella as an equally un-Australian, rebellious act. We should definitely shy away from attempting to bolster our position and crave legitimacy in the eyes of the dominant culture by pandering to their insecurities and advocating the diminution of freedoms from other ‘less desirable ‘groups.’
If anything positive derives from the present manifestations of a threatened society drawing in the shroud of liberalism within it, it is that it reveals bare, despite the rhetoric of the past few decades and our own struthocamilic illusions, exactly who we are and what our place is in Australian society. It proves that our continuous pandering to politicians and political parties alike and our complacent pride in our ‘boys’ occupying positions of power is perhaps, a little misplaced. Ultimately, given that we alone are solely responsible for the survival of our cultural identity, it is incumbent upon us to seek broader and more cohesive relations with our other migrant communities. Together, we do not have to ‘prove’ our loyalty to any dominant culture but by example, demand the respect and loyalty from the society we have contributed to for so long and which as Australians of various extraction, we richly deserve.

DEAN KALIMNIOU
kalymnios@hotmail.com

First published in NKEE on 12 September 2005

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Devoted Diatribe readers would remember that last November, I was requested by the Victorian branch of the "Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee" to meet with them and conduct an interview of two visiting members of the 'Rainbow-Vinozhito Party,' a political group existing within Greece that purports to represent the interests of those citizens of Greece who consider themselves to be "ethnically Macedonian."
Shortly after the publication of that interview, I was contacted by a member of the "Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee," who politely pointed out that the two gentlemen in question had read the transcript of the interview and did not believe that it represented a true and accurate recording of their answers to my questions. The member then pointed out that while he did not understand Greek, he had no doubt that Parisis and Voskopoulos, the subjects of the interview, would never have answered some of the questions in the way that I portrayed them as doing so. This member also had the courtesy to read me some comments about my conducting the interview that were to be published in the ethnic press. He also agreed to withdraw some of those that verged upon the defamatory, for which I thank him.
There was much I did not agree with in the content of Voskopoulos' and Parisis' answers. To me, they came across as arrogant and superior, attempting to out-manouvre and out-argue any 'opponents' or opposing points of view by name-calling and dismissive comments. As such, towards the end of the interview, after having been told by them several times that I was a petty nationalist with no knowledge of history except that force-fed down my throat by Greek propaganda and that Greeks like me cannot deal with strangers or minorities, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable. At the very end, when Voskopoulos started speaking to me in Albanian, stating that all Greeks who come from Epirus are really Albanians, I felt downright insulted, especially given that for the past two or so hours both gentlemen were telling me that everyone has a right to 'self-identification,' and that no other person should impose an identity or restrict one from another. This I assume, does not apply in my case, for these members of Vinozhito were quick to impose upon me the identity of an ignorant, bigoted, close-minded Albanian. Meanwhile, the youthful members of the AMHRC sat back and gazed adoringly at who without a doubt they considered to be their heroes. It was lucky for them that my interview was conducted in Greek and that they did not hear Parisis sarcastically refer to their community as 'socially retarded.' He seemed to be of the opinion that both the Greek community and the community he was visiting was, to use the original term he used "πρωτόγονοι" or 'primitive.' The members of the AMHRC still have trouble believing that their heroes could have intoned such heinous syllables. Further backtracks included Parisis and Voskopoulos' denial that they want the language that they call 'Macedonian' taught in all schools where the idiom is spoken. This is despite the fact that we spent over half an hour discussing this point alone, with Parisis and Voskopoulos jumping from positions so diverse as making the idiom compulsory for all students in areas where it is spoken, regardless of whether they want to or not, to teaching it only to those who wish to learn it, and then reverting to the repetitive rhetoric of respect for diversity and my own need to divest myself of the nationalist blinkers that I apparently wear, with the dexterity of a Mexican flea. Indeed, I gained the distinct impression from the way both vascillated from one position to the other under questioning, even to the point of disagreeing with each other, that they had no firm position on certain subjects and were making it up as they went along. Of course, this was accompanied by jeers and taunts that it was my own dark Greek upbringing that inhibited my capacity to understand them, and not any inconsistencies in their answers. A chief characteristic of this attitude was when Parisis told me: "You display no flexibility in your views" and Voskopoulos added: "This is also evident in the type of questions you've been asking us. We didn't expect any others from a Greek. You always ask the same questions." I consciously edited out most of the sarcastic, racist taunts and thoroughly unpleassant statements made by them for the sake of brevity and conciseness and also so as to not offend my hosts unduly. In hindsight, even if had presented their responses in the malevolent and incoherent manner in which they were provided to me, I doubt that their adherents would have believed that their 'heores' could be so coarse. Bloody Greek propagandists.
I had forgotten about last year's interview and indeed the Rainbow Party altogether, along with its interesting San Francisco connotations, until a few weeks ago when I chanced to enter Vinozhito's website and read an old press release castigating former President Stephanopoulos' 'nationalistic' stance on certain issues. Quite apart from alleging that there is an 'Orthodox Axis' bent on Balkan Domination, the Vinozhito press release stated as follows: "He …..stat[ed] that he is from Patras, but….is also from… "the two most occupied Greek Territories of Northern Epirus and Cyprus" … we must comment on his expansionist statements against two sovereign states: Albania and Cyprus. According to…Stephanopoulos Southern Albania, or Northern Epirus as he refers to it, and Cyprus are occupied Greek territories? In that case why doesn't he outline how they should be liberated?"
Now I don’t know about you, but I understand this vitriolic piece of commentary to infer that in fact Cyprus is not at all occupied and that further it does not have a Greek character (culturally of course). Given that it is well documented by UN resolutions among other things that the Republic of Cyprus was invaded by Turkish troops in 1974 and that a considerable slice of that territory has been occupied by Turkish troops ever since, it is easy to draw the inference that Vinozhito is claiming that Cyprus does not have a Greek character and that further, the Turkish soldiers are not occupying Cyprus but some other entity, possibly the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus?
This reminded me of previous Vinozhito postings and my question to Parisis and Voskopoulos last November: You refer in your website, to the "Greek President of Southern Cyprus." Do you have a position on the Cyprus issue?" The response, by Parisis, was as follows: "You are wrong. We have no position on Cyprus. That reference was made by people whose views we host on our website because they are of interest. In Greece, the Cyprus issue is usually seen from only one viewpoint."
Busted big time guys. Evidently Vinozhito does have a postion on Cyprus and who knows on what else besides, despite the protestations of its leaders. But then again maybe my thought process is scarred by my own nationalistic Helleno-fascist imperialist upbringing. The unsubstantiated rumours that agents of Vinozhito were here in Australia recently, raising money from the local community in order for them to buy a local Florinian radio station thus justifiably stirred the concern of our own Macedonian community which is concerned at this 'party's' propensity to actively campaign against the interests of Greece on issues that do not concern it as well as it self-righteous proclamations that Greece persecutes its minorities. The mere existence of these people proves otherwise and that our own Consul-General received them at the Consulate proves otherwise. Thankfully, most bilingual voters in Florina, where Vinozhito purports to be active, are able to see past the smoke and bluster and realising that a reactionary party that appears to have no firm policies or activites and instead seems to promote ethnic hatred and social attrition and goes out of its way to embarrass the Greek state does not serve their interests, shun it altogether.
In contrast to Greece's benign toleration of Vinozhito, underlying a deep comitment to democracy, it is the government at Skopje that denies its clerics freedom of religion by imprisoning those who adhere to the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate instead of the schismatic from the point of view of the Oecumenical Patriarchate and its sister churches, so-called "Macedonian Orthodox Church." We leave you then, with the sad news that the Melbourne University Institute of Orthodox Studies, in its misguided quest to promote harmony among the sister Orthodox Churches, has seen fit to invite Fr Jovan Takovski PhD, a member of the "Macedonian Orthodox Church" to give its students a lecture. Let us hope that its students of Greek extraction find the courage to point out a few things to its directors and that those charged by the whole of the Greek community with the vigilance of the issue, maintain that vigil for all of us.

DEAN KALIMNIOU
kalymnios@hotmail.com

First published in NKEE on 5 September 2005